Blackpool

"You can't beat Blackpool. There in a couple of hours in a charabanc. Everybody's letting their hair down. You can cut smell of shrimps and best bitter with a knife. It's paradise." - Bet Lynch

Blackpool is a popular seaside resort town in Lancashire, England, famous for its Illuminations, Tower, and trams. Due to its popularity as a day trip venue amongst Northern mill towns and its proximity to Weatherfield, Blackpool has received many visits from Coronation Street residents over the years, notably three coach trips from the Street to the town in 1961 and 1988, which saw many of them indulge in the attractions of the town.

Trams - The Blackpool tram network runs along the seafront Promenade. In 1989, Alan Bradley died when hit by a moving tram while chasing Rita Fairclough across the road. A year earlier, Alf Roberts rode on the upper level of a tram, hoping to catch a glimpse of his wife Audrey and Malcolm Reid as the tram moved down the Prom.

Pleasure Beach - A popular amusement park. Jenny Bradley, Martin Platt, Shirley Armitage and Curly Watts enjoyed the attractions at the Pleasure Beach while on a coach trip to Blackpool in 1988. Many Coronation Street residents also spent time there during a Whit Monday picnic in the town in 1961.

North, Central and South Piers - Three coastal piers hosting a variety of funfairs, venues and shows. Coronation Street resident Tom Lingard washed up under Central Pier in 1929 after being missing for a month.

Illuminations - An annual lights festival, which runs from August to November of each year. In 1961, the planned Rovers Return Inn outing to Morecambe was merged with the OAP evening trip to Blackpool to see the Illuminations.

Pony carriages - Jack Duckworth treated Vera to a trip in a pony carriage in 1993, telling his disbelieving wife not to worry about the money.

Fortune tellers - Ena Sharples and Minnie Caldwell had their palms read on the October1961 OAP trip to Blackpool, although Ena made it appear to her friends as though she was intending to give the fortune teller a piece of her mind. Ena missed the coach back home. Fiz Brown impersonated a fortune teller in 2002 when she ended up in a fortune teller's booth while running from a candy floss seller. Finally, tarot card reader Mary-Ann Galloway arranged for her son Michael who was the manager of the Tower Ballroom to open it for Roy and Hayley Cropper in 2013.

The first 1961 trip to Blackpool was for the annual Whit Monday picnic. After an enjoyable day together, Harry Hewitt proposed to Concepta Riley on the coach back home. Later that year, the OAP club excursion to Blackpool was merged with the Rovers Return Inn outing to Morecambe, with the residents deciding on Blackpool. Don Brennan organised a third trip in 1988, and again many of the Street residents went along, with Phyllis Pearce and Arnold Swift enjoying themselves so much they decided to stay longer.

Jack and Vera Duckworth had long had a fondness for Blackpool. Their son Terry married Blackpool-born Lisa Horten while in prison, but shortly after giving birth to their grandson Tommy Lisa left Terry for Des Barnes. In 1993, Lisa was killed in a road accident and the Duckworths tried to reach an agreement over custody of Tommy with Lisa's parents Jeff and Doreen Horton, although the Hortons won custody by paying Terry after his release from prison. The Duckworths were nevertheless welcome to visit Tommy in Blackpool and they often holidayed there. Vera fell in love with the town so much that when deciding to retire in 2008 she convinced Jack that they should move to Blackpool. The couple got as far as viewing houses but Vera's death early that year caused Jack to decide to remain in Weatherfield.

Rita Sullivan has also had a long history with Blackpool. As singer Rita Littlewood, she sometimes had singing engagements there in the 1970s. Her uncle, Sam Littlewood, lived there and it was to his home that she fled when she left husband Len Fairclough in 1980. Sam thought the pair should reconcile and contacted Len to inform him of his wife's whereabouts. Rita and Len discussed their marriage as they walked along the beach, and although Rita did not immediately return to Len she did upon reflection. In 1985, Rita went to Blackpool with friends Bet Lynch and Mavis Riley, with the intention of having a good time. Bet met toy rep Frank Mills there and he was so taken with her he followed her to Weatherfield.

In 1989, Rita suffered a breakdown after old flame Alan Bradley was released from prison and tormented her emotionally. Rita went missing but surfaced in Blackpool, although the Street residents thought Alan had killed Rita. When Alan went

to Blackpool to fetch Rita, she tried to run away from him, and he was hit and killed by a tram while giving chase. Following the traumatic incident, Rita linked Blackpool with Alan and when asked to go on holiday with the Websters in 1994 accepted so she could put Alan's ghost to rest. A few months earlier in the same year, newly-engaged couple Percy Sugden and Maud Grimes joined an OAP day trip to the resort which they didn't enjoy due to loud children and unruly youths.

Blackpool was the location of the search for missing Simon Barlow in 2010 when his grandparents George and Eve Wilson took him there to get him away from his dad Peter, as George didn't believe Peter to be fit to take care of Simon. Simon ran off when he heard George talk to Eve about taking him away from Peter, and a police search quickly ensued. Simon eventually turned up in Weatherfield having made his way home by himself.

One year later, a reluctant Steve McDonald accompanied Tracy Barlow and their daughter Amy there when Amy also went missing and Steve found himself in trouble with wife Becky when they returned as she had known nothing about the planned trip.

In October 2013, Roy Cropper took his terminally-ill wife Hayley there on a special trip where, despite a hitch, he was able to fulfil Hayley's ambition to dance at the Tower Ballroom thanks to the intervention of a friendly tarot card reader Mary-Ann Galloway. After Hayley died in the following January, Roy vacillated for several months over what to do with her ashes, visiting Blackpool with the intention of scattering them there in the October but was unable to let them go. In the event, five months later he scattered them in North Cross Park back in Weatherfield where they had shared their first kiss in 1998.

Blackpool was the location of Coronation Street-themed attraction The World of Coronation Street in 1996. The exhibit included imitation copies of the Street and the Rovers Return, and set reproductions chronicling the history of the programme since 1960.